Merry Christmas!!!

MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!

We hope everyone had a wonderful Christmas!!!  We certainly enjoyed Zachary's very first Christmas!!!  Hopefully we'll see or hear from everyone soon, if we haven't already!!!  In the meantime, may you have a joyous Christmas season and a very Happy 2010!!!

Sweet Christmas Boys!!

Gotta love that Christmas spirit!!!  Happy Birthday, Jesus!!!

:o)

More Christmas details to come...

The Picture Website Has Moved

Goodbye nickandsuzanne.com!!!  The old picture website has disappeared and will be replaced by Google's oh-so-special Picasa Web Albums!!  (See link above.)  It should be MUCH faster to browse the photos now!!  And now my dear ole blog will be our homepage.  Gulp.  That means people may actually read my posts!!!  :o)

The old photos are no longer posted online, but if you'd like to see them...just let us know and we'll get them to you!!  Nick can give you an entire DVD set of all the old pictures!  He can even get it to you by December 24th with Free Super Saver Shipping if you order it by yesterday. 

Hope you enjoy!!! 

PS...Nicholas and Zachary say MERRY CHRISTMAS and OOOooooAAAgggg, respectively!  :o)

This Little Light of Mine!!!

Today was Nicholas's Christmas program at his preschool!  Daddy took off work to help video tape the occasion!  All three of the two-year-old classes (about 24 kids total) walked down the church aisle together "singing" Jingle Bells while jingling little Christmas bells.  Then, they all stood in their places (or sat relatively close to their places) on the steps of the altar for their performance.  Nicholas was one of the kiddos that sat down on the bottom step to ensure that it was pretty much impossible for us to get any good photos or video footage of him.  Then, the teachers started singing This Little Light of Mine.  Some of the older kids joined in for a few words or motions.  I could barely see Nicholas from my seat, but I did hear his voice a few times and I saw his little pointer finger "light" moving around a few times, too!  (He's the youngest kid in the whole school, so I was just proud that he wasn't screaming or crying!!)  Just as I'm praising him for his good behavior, I hear him say, "Where'd Mommy go?"  Oops.  Shortly after that, Nicholas began mission "I'm Bored".  He didn't disobey his teachers when they told him to stay seated.  Instead, he scooted on his bottom along the bottom step from the far left side of the altar where he was originally seated to the far right side of the altar near the older two-year-olds.  Just as he arrived at his new location, the classes began singing Happy Birthday to Jesus.  Nicholas did sing along quietly to this song!  I was quite surprised since he's usually so very loud at home!!  Then, the performance was over and his teacher walked over to the other side of the altar to retrieve the silly little guy!  It was a very cute performance!  The three and four-year-old kids took turns performing after the two-year-olds were herded into their pews...they were also very cute!!  The four-year-olds actually put on a mini Christmas pageant!  The extra girls were angels, of course, but the extra boys were sheep.  I've never seen that before.  I suppose in two years, Nicholas will be a sheep if he has his mommy's luck!  Ah, I was always the angel, never the Mary!  Nick, Zachary, and I were very excited to attend Nicholas's very first school performance!!  I hope there are many, many more in the future!!

 
And, since there's been no update in over two months...here's a quick one!  The boys are doing very well!!  They're already such good friends!  Zachary is hitting his milestones so quickly!  He can roll over in both directions and he can sit up on his own (for a little while, at least!)  He won't start on solid food until he's 6 months old, but he is already suspiciously eyeing the rest of the family during mealtimes.  And did you know that Zachary is a master baby pianist!!  He bangs on those piano keys like nobody's business!!  He also received an Exersaucer as an early Christmas gift from his grandparents and he LOVES it!!  Nicholas loves helping him play in it, too!!  The Exersaucer has a phone toy that is attached to the Exersaucer by a sturdy ribbon.  Zachary pushes the buttons and eats the phone constantly.  Nicholas was watching Zachary play with the phone the other day when it fell out of Zachary's hands and dangled helplessly along the outside of the Exersaucer.  Nicholas shot Zachary a concerned look and said, "Oh no!  Zachary!  You dropped your phone!  It's okay, Zachary."  Nicholas picked up the phone, gently handed it to Zachary and said, "Here you go, little man!!"    I LOVE those boys!!

Nicholas has also had many more "Did he just say that?" moments.  A few that I can remember include....

Daddy:  Eat your veggies Nicholas.
Nicholas:  No!  I don't like veggies!
Daddy:  Nicholas, you need to eat your veggies!  They'll make you big and strong.  Don't you want to be big and strong like Daddy?
Nicholas:  NOOOOOO!!!!  I don't want to be big and strong like Daddy!!!  I want to be big and strong like MOMMY!!!!  :o)

Nicholas singing along to Granger Smith's song, Don't Listen to the Radio.
Actual lyrics:  Don't listen to the radio.  If you've got your heart broke.  Cuz it always knows exactly what to play.
Nicholas:  Don't listen to the radio.  If you got your car broke.  Cuz you always know Zachary wants to play.

There were more fun phrases, but I just can't think of them right now!!

Wow...it has been awhile since the last post!!  Here's a picture update of the major moments:

Zachary was baptized at the end of September.  Many people came to watch his Baptism, including LaLa and Great Grandma Neumann!  All of his grandparents, aunts, and uncles were also there to celebrate the occasion!  Zachary was quite the looker in his Baptism outfit!

The boys had a great Halloween!  Dragon Nicholas went trick or treating around the neighborhood, while Pumpkin Pooh Zachary stayed at home to hand out candy to the visiting little ghosts and goblins.

The boys also enjoyed spending Thanksgiving in San Antonio and in Austin.  While Nicholas was in San Antonio, he visited Kiddie Park where his Mommy and his grandparents played at kids!!

It "snowed" in Austin!!  Nicholas played out in the backyard while it "snowed"!  Zachary sat in his early Christmas present highchair to watch his brother out the back door.

Nicholas was very excited to help decorate the Christmas tree this year!!  Zachary carefully observed this event from his Exersaucer!! Both boys love watching the train run under the Christmas tree!

So, I suppose that's it for this little update!!  We'll most certainly update again around Christmastime!!  In the meantime, Happy Advent!!  :o)

N versus sideways N

Just for comparison...  The boys are about the same age in the photos, plus or minus 7-10 days.  

 Nicholas and Zachary...enjoying some down-time in the swing after an all night party!!!

 Nicholas and Zachary studying up to be very smart boys!!

Wow.  Nicholas sure was skinny!!  And Zachary sure is round!!  :o)  We love you, boys!!! 

Brothers!!

And then there were two!!! Here's the "quick" update:

We had another baby boy, Zachary! He weighed in at 7lbs, 7oz and was 20.5 inches long!! He's sweet, smart, and handsome…just like his big brother!! He's two months old now and sleeps A LOT!! Nicholas and Zachary are already best buds!! They're so great together!! Nicholas loves to cuddle up to Zachary! Nicholas carefully approaches Zachary (usually) while very quietly saying, "Oh, ho ho!! It's Zachary! He's so little!! You love your brother!!" (Nicholas usually refers to himself as "You.") Then he gently grabs a hold of a Zachary appendage while jamming the thumb of his other hand straight into his mouth. Meanwhile, Zachary either gazes curiously at his silly big brother or furrows his brow in concern for his immediate well being.
Zachary is such a wonderful baby!! He is already sleeping through the night!!! :o) Nicholas didn't pull off that feat until he was 7 months old!!! As a matter of fact, Nicholas started screaming at 1am last night (he either had a horrible dream about bugs or there really was a bug attacking him in his crib) while sweet little Zachary slept so peacefully. But don't worry, there never was and never will be any shortage of love and attention for Nicholas!! Zachary also had to deal with the dreaded baby acne!! He looked like a little baby teenager for about a month, but his skin is now recovering!! He's getting pale and soft like a good little baby!!

At 2 months, his stats were: 13lbs, 15oz and 24 inches long! At 2 months, Nicholas was: 11lbs, 4oz and 22.75 inches long! Looks like Zachary will have a better chance at being my basketball star!!

Nicholas is also doing very well!! This month, he started preschool at our church. He goes twice a week for about 4 hours. He really seems to enjoy almost all of it!! He's not a huge fan of Mommy dropping him off in the morning and leaving for "boring places"!! I can't blame him…I wouldn't want to leave me, either!! (Just kidding!) His teachers really seem to get a kick out of him!! At drop-off time, he likes to yell, "Don't want Mommy to leave you to go to boring places!! No!!!" The teachers have given me rave reviews about his speaking abilities. He's the youngest in the class, but he's also the best speaker!! Today, his teacher praised him saying, "Nicholas is so smart!!! We say the blessing before eating our lunch. But today, instead of saying the blessing, Nicholas just broke into the Our Father all by himself! I've never had a 2 year old that could recite the Our Father in my class." :o) Proud? You bet I am!! I'm always so happy driving my sweet little boy home from preschool!! He really does make me so proud!!! And he's also quite proud of himself! When I come into the classroom to pick him up, he greets me happily and then grabs whatever craft he's made for the day. He runs around with it just beaming and says, "Look what you made!!"
Poor Nicholas had a run-in (literally) with a wall corner in our house about a month ago. He ended up with a large, 1 inch laceration that had to be glued together in the ER. He now has a lovely scar to show for it. Le sigh. My precious boy is now scarred for life…(again, literally.) But, our optimistic neighbor says, "Chicks dig scars!" So, maybe Nicholas won't fare too badly in the end. Ha!
Well, what's left?! Mommy absolutely loves her two boys and their little brotherly dynamic. Add in Daddy and the two horses….Mommy is completely surrounded by boys!! It took about a month and a half to really get into a groove, but now I feel completely at ease taking care of the boys. The horses are getting a little bit of the shaft at the moment, but hopefully that won't last too long!! They're troopers as well and I suppose that it's not the end of the world if I don't see them everyday! :o/ Daddy is also slowly getting used to the groove, but he's a little more frustrated with the lack of sleep and free time than Mommy. I must also mention that the first month with Zachary would have been absolutely crazy if it wasn't for the amazing grandparent assistance!!! THANK YOU!!! :o) Part of the difficulty for Mommy and Daddy is that we basically live for our boys. We want them to have mental stimulation and play and learning experiences all day long!! I really do feel guilty anytime the TV has been on longer than 2 hours in a day!! (God bless those first 2 hours!! Nicholas is very likely to kill himself running around the house while Zachary eats if he isn't glued to the TV! Nothing else will keep him still…nothing. Yes, we've tried. Plus, I grew up watching plenty of TV and I'm only a half-zombie!)
I suppose this short novella is enough of an update for now!! Stay tuned for the next update in another 2-3 months!! :o)

Tick Tock!!

Well, tonight is the full moon and no signs of labor!! It looks like Nicholas's baby brother isn't in as much of a rush as Nicholas was to get out of the womb and see the world!!! There are no complaints from Mommy, though, since our crib isn't scheduled to arrive until "early" next week and my hospital bag remains unpacked!!

Nicholas is very excited about his baby brother, though!! He keeps telling us that he's ready to go to the hospital to see his baby brother and ride the elevator!! He also has a Very Hungry Caterpillar teether rattle gift all ready to give to his baby brother when he meets him!! He runs around the house playing with the caterpillar and telling us how he will soon give it to his baby brother when he's done growing in mommy's tummy. Nicholas is also fascinated with all his old baby toys that are reappearing!! He loves his old cradle swing, his fun floor gym, and even his tiny old clothes!!!

In non-baby brother news, Nicholas was a show-off today at Little Gym!! I was so proud of him!! We arrived at the Little Gym early (small miracle!), so Nicholas was becoming impatient about going into the gym area itself. Finally, I picked him up, pointed out the clock above the gym door, and started to explain to him how much longer he had to wait before his class started saying, "Do you see the big hand, the minute hand?" Then, his current gym teacher (who is not our favorite gym teacher from past semesters!!) laughed and said, "He doesn't understand that!!!" I raised my eyebrow without turning around to look at the non-believer as Nicholas chimed in, "It's pointing at the 2!!" Impressed with this extra show of knowledge, I smiled and said, "That's right!! And your class doesn't start until the minute hand moves to the 3, which is in about 5 more minutes!! So we have to be patient and wait a little while longer." Nicholas replied, "Wait 5 more minutes! THEN go in gym!" Smiling, I put Nicholas back down on the ground and he ran off to the waiting area toy box... and the gym teacher didn't say a word. Hmph. She was obviously unfamiliar with Nicholas's clock obsession thanks to the millions of clocks in Grandpa & Grandma's house in San Antonio (okay, maybe there are just 4, but that's quite a few!!!) or the fact that Nicholas has everything explained to him because who are we to decide what he can or cannot understand?!?! Regardless, Nicholas made me very proud!! :o) What a sweet boy!!!

Happy Wedding!

This past weekend, Nicholas went to his very first wedding!! His Uncle Chris was getting hitched and Nicholas was chosen to be the ring bearer - yipes!! Everyone was a little worried about whether or not Nicholas would be able to make it down the aisle calmly with the rings still in hand!! But, sure enough...he was a champ!! Nicholas was instructed to bring the pillow (which was holding the actual wedding rings!!!) down the aisle and give it to Jesus. He performed this task very well at the rehearsal, so we had our fingers crossed that he would be able to do it again with many people watching!!

On the wedding day, the flower girl who was four months younger than Nicholas, started crying alongside Nicholas at the back of the church when it came time for the two of them to walk down the aisle. Luckily, her father popped out near the front of the church waving an Elmo doll. The cute little girl went running down the aisle to meet Elmo!!! Nicholas, on the other hand, was so very excited to be able to deliver the pillow to Jesus that seeing Elmo was merely an added bonus!! He walked slowly down the aisle carrying the pillow, stopped for a few pictures from the photographer as the bridesmaid and groomsman pairs did before him (nevermind that this stopping coincided with the flower girl reaching the front of the church and Elmo disappearing from sight!!), handed the pillow to the best man, and started climbing on the bride's kneeler at the front of the church! The best man and Daddy kindly retrieved the silly little ring bearer and sent him towards Mommy at the back of the Church!! The priest later commented that he thought Nicholas was going to climb up to the altar to try to say the Mass himself!! I wouldn't put it past him!! Since Daddy was a groomsman and Mommy was the "ring bearer catcher", there are sadly no photos of Nicholas in action!! But, we will hopefuly be able to get some fancy pictures from the official wedding photographer at some point!! Regardless, Nicholas was very proud of his accomplishment (giving the pillow to Jesus) and was excited to get his reward - a very yummy cookie!!


Nicholas and I missed the majority of the wedding since he has always had trouble sitting still during church, but from what we did see, it was definitely a beautiful wedding!! Congrats Chris & Ali!!! :o) Nicholas also managed to swipe a bouquet from Aunt Kaela after the wedding and had a grand ole time running around the church with it!! Mommy was just happy to get some extra pictures!


Nicholas's favorite part of the wedding was most definitely the reception!! He had a ball dancing around to the various songs!! He was the center of attention for many a song, but we just couldn't get him to dance with the flower girl!!! He's used to older girls, I guess!! He did get to dance with his new Aunt Ali, though!! Very sweet!

Nicholas also had a great time visiting with his El Paso grandparents, his Great Grandma N., his aunts and uncles, and many of his great aunts and uncles and their families! He especially enjoyed riding the hotel elevator up and down and up and down!! What a silly boy!! And of course, upon our arrival at the hotel, Grandpa N. informed us about the sad Michael Jackson news. So, in his honor, Auntie Em taught Nicholas to sing and dance along to Thriller!

What a fun time for Nicholas!! It's definitely good to be back home, though!! The hotel was apparently having air conditioning problems over the weekend...ugh. :oP

On another random note, Nicholas was watching PBS today and a before-show segment asked him to fill in the blank...
"Hooper found one shoe,
It was small and new,
It was painted in blue,
He wished he had ___"
Nicholas walked up to the TV and said, "Two!! One, two!!" My jaw dropped as the little segment host said, "Two! Very good, because it rhymes with blue!" I don't know if Nicholas has ever seen that segment before and just happened to remember it, or maybe he's just that smart! I was impressed either way!! What a smart little guy!! :o)

Busy, busy, busy!!

Nicholas has had a very busy past few weeks!!

Potty training is still going well with about an 80% success rate at home for liquid potty deposits!! Nicholas still refuses to use the potty for his larger, messier deposits!! He's still way ahead of schedule in Mommy's book, though!! :o)

Nicholas has also developed quite a love for spaghetti!!! For the longest time, he was not a fan of tomato sauce. Something in his taste buds must have changed recently, though, because Nicholas is now a spaghetti-eating machine!!! He also is a huge fan of "Zahn-ya", or lasagna in layman's terms, and of course, pizza (preferably pepperoni, but sausage is also acceptable!) He has his Italian food bases covered! Mommy and Daddy are very excited that Nicholas will enjoy his trips to Fazoli's and Olive Garden as much as they do!! Here's the requisite spaghetti face shot...


Nicholas also spent a fun week with his Grandma at home and in SA!! The purpose of the visit was to check a bunch of items off of our "To Do Before Baby #2" list, and if three is "a bunch," then we were most definitely successful!! Regardless, Nicholas had a grand old time playing with Grandma!! What a cool cat!


We made the trek to SA with Grandma to celebrate an early Father's Day with Grandpa and G.G. PaPa. Nicholas, of course, loved the visit and has requested to "Go back to San Antonio!" multiple times a day since we've been back. (He has not stopped singing "The Hammer Song" either!!) While we were in SA, Grandma and LaLa were so very wonderful to host a beautiful baby shower for the new baby!! Nicholas loved being surrounded by family and figured that all the fuss was about him!! Thank you to everyone who came and showered the new baby and Mommy with so many nice things!! We feel so loved!!

Once we returned home to celebrate Father's Day with Daddy, Nicholas felt that we needed a little more chaos in our lives, and he finally outgrew his crib!!! After his nap on Monday, Nicholas decided that Mommy was taking too long to pull him out of the crib. So, as soon as I entered his room, he stood up, used his arms to push himself and his stomach up onto the crib railing, and then let gravity take him headfirst towards the ground. Mommy caught him during his descent with a sigh. Daddy then spent the majority of the evening disassembling the crib and attempting to convert it into a toddler bed. Sadly, the toddler bed rail was defective, so the project could not be completed as intended!! (We have since whined to the manufacturer and we should receive the replacement rail soon.) Luckily, I have been listening in on other mommies' conversations on the topic of "big kid beds" where they mentioned placing a mattress on the ground next to the day bed or regular bed to buffer any falls. And guess what!! We just so happened to have an extra crib mattress lying around thanks to Grandma and Grandpa's timely and much appreciated shower gift for the new baby!! So, until the replacement toddler rail arrives, Nicholas is loving his "new crib" set-up!! Hopefully he'll be able to give up the second mattress when his brother arrives!!!


And that's about all the news I can think of at midnight!! :o) Goodnight!!!

Go Potty!!

Nicholas has officially instituted his own potty training!! After weeks of asking for an Elmo potty, Nicholas finally has a potty to call his own!! :o) We did not purchase a stand alone Elmo potty in the end because...ewww!!! How is cleaning a little potty bowl better than changing a diaper?! Anyways, we went with the Baby Bjorn Toilet Trainer potty seat that attaches to the regular toilet seat and received 5 star ratings online. It is now attached to the toilet in the "guest bathroom", which will now be known as "Nicholas's bathroom". We also purchased an Elmo step stool since Nicholas was indeed promised an Elmo potty!! (He seems content with the compromise!)

Anyways, today was the first day that I actually opened the Pull-Ups training pants box. Nicholas demanded a diaper immediately. I told him that these were training diapers to help him use the real potty. At that, he stated, "Go Potty," and ran over to his bathroom, pull-up in hand! He climbed up on the Elmo stool where Mommy helped him remove his pants and diaper, and then he sat down on the potty seat. I told him that he could now use the potty and after much pushing and grunting...the first pee was seen!!! (Sorry for the TMI!) He was so happy!!! "Now flush it!!!!" I had no idea that half of his motivation to use the potty was for the privilege of flushing the toilet!! He's been told that you can only touch the potty or flush the potty if you're using it!! So, after wiping, climbing down from the potty, and putting on his pull-up, Nicholas flushed the potty and washed his hands!! What a big boy!!!

This episode was repeated once more when Nicholas was caught suspiciously squatting in the living room, and he was again very proud of his accomplishment!! (Especially since Daddy was there, too, to witness what a big boy he is!!) :o)

But enough of this potty talk!!! It was brought to my attention that I apparently completely forgot to mention in yesterday's post that Nicholas also loves to sing the Lucky Charms jingle!! "Frosted Lucky Charms... Magically... *pause for effect* Delicious!!!" :o) His Daddy was so happy to have captured Nicholas happily singing this on the video camera!!! And Mommy is definitely guilty of teaching Nicholas the Lucky Charms jingle, since she is the official eater of the Lucky Charms!!! Sugary cereal is my weakness, what can I say!! :o)

Until next time...potty on!!! :oP

Singing machine!!!

Nicholas tends to find some area of interest and give it all of his focus for quite a long time before moving on to another main interest. We've had phases involving cars, dancing, Barney, and air conditioners, to name a few! Don't worry, though!! None of these phases has passed away completely!! Nicholas still makes time for these exciting activities, but they luckily don't last all day long anymore!!

Nicholas's current passion is singing!!! He has so many songs in his repertoire, it's crazy!! Many of the songs come from either his Barney DVDs (I Love You, The Growing Song, Mr. Golden Sun, and Friends are Special), his music class CD (Drip Drop, Allee Galloo, and the Hello Song), Storytime at the library (Read a Book and Skinnamarink), random songs from CDs (Bibbity Bobbity Boo, the Soapy song, Taylor Swift's Tim McGraw song, and other lovely songs), or just your typical nursery rhymes (Itsy Bitsy Spider, Row Your Boat, Old MacDonald, etc.) The craziest part is that he really knows and loves each song!! He misses words and phrases here and there, but for the most part he's spot on with the words. And he's almost always spot on with the correct melody and timing!!!

He even finally sang his ABC's!!! One day he's just chanting, "A, B, C, D, F...." and the next day, as I'm quickly gathering groceries, I hear the cute little boy in the grocery cart sing all the way to Z!!! (I'm sure that he still skipped at least the letter "E", but I was more focused on speed-shopping than critiquing his alphabet!!) Nicholas was about to start singing, "Now I know my ABC's..." when foolish Mommy got overexcited and interrupted with a big kiss and a singing compliment!! I was just too proud!! :o)

What a sweet boy!!! Did I mention that the terrible twos are starting as well!! (Something tells me that the fact that Nicholas is a wee bit spoiled may have something to do with this "phase"!) Ha!! Buckle up...here it comes! :o)

What a gentleman!! (And a quick update)

Well, the time has finally come... Mommy can no longer easily put on her own socks thanks to her growing belly. Luckily, most summer outings involve sandals!! But getting ready for the barn still requires socks! So today, both Nicholas and Daddy were kind enough to help a struggling Mommy put on her socks! Nicholas was very meticulous in preparing a sock for Mommy's foot, but he wasn't quite sure how to get such a big foot into such a small sock opening!! So, Daddy sat down on the ground to help him out. Once the socks were on, Nicholas decided that it was indeed time for Mommy to be out the door and on her way to the barn. He grabbed Mommy's hand saying, "Hold my hand, Mommy. Now let's go." But as he grabbed Mommy's hand and turned for the door, he noticed that there was a Daddy road block on the ground!! He politely said, "Excuse us. Excuse us, Daddy." Then, as Daddy moved, he escorted Mommy out of the bedroom and towards the front door as she and Daddy exchanged very impressed looks!! What a little gentleman!!

Ah...and that reminds me of my lack of a Mother's Day entry to describe how Nicholas is such a very sweet and wonderful child!!! I know all Mommies say that their child is sweet and wonderful (well, at least I hope they do!!!), but it sure is nice to share that sweetness every once and a while!! But alas, all the cute stories that I had planned to recount have currently slipped my baby brain. Suffice it to say that all the "Hugs," "Give kisses," and "I love you" comments are enough to melt anyone's little heart!!!

Nicholas has had quite an exciting past 2 weeks!! He's visited with both sets of grandparents, his GG Papa and LaLa, and some fun friends and family in SA & Dallas!! Unfortunately, after the Mother's Day weekend, our camera died...so our picture updates are non-existent!!! :o( Instead, enjoy these older pictures...yay for summer!!)

Swing batta', batta'... Don't forget to hit the ball!!!

Posing for Air Conditioner Magazine....

Tis the season!!

Nicholas went swimming today!!! Nicholas's good friend, Langston, has a super fun neighborhood pool and is always so thoughtful in inviting Nicholas to tag along when he can!! Nicholas had such a great time frolicking through the kiddie splash area and wading into the shallow pool from the "beach entrance." What a difference from a year ago when Nicholas required Mommy to hold onto both of his hands so that he could walk through the splash area!! He also enjoyed standing on the edge of the shallow pool, counting to 5 (or 3 if he was a wee bit overexcited), then jumping into the pool (with Mommy's assistance, of course!)

What a fun morning!! I piled the sunscreen on Nicholas and myself, but with the sad lack of monkey arms...the shoulder blade section of my back feels burnt. Argh. I tried so hard, too!!! Evil maternity swimsuits...why are they so revealing?!?!

Which reminds me...here are the latest sonogram pics of Nicholas's Baby Brother!!!


My little alien!!! :o)

Belated Easter Update!!

Now that I have forgotten all of Nicholas's cute antics...here is our Easter update!! I've added pictures to make my ranting less boring for those who may not actually want to read a novella on Nicholas's Easter activities!! :o)

First, Nicholas celebrated an early Easter at a nearby park when Uncle Chris came to visit!!


He actually managed to sit on the Easter Bunny's lap without crying!! (He was probably somewhat distracted by the very interesting appearance of this Easter Bunny. Creepy, no?)

After visiting with the Bunny, Nicholas was very excited to tell everyone about his adventure!!! "Easter Bunny!! Sit him!! Pet him!! Big bow!! Blue bow!! Give you candy!!!" His adventures in the park also included an inflatable bouncy house, a petting zoo, and a playscape.

Then, Easter weekend finally arrived and Nicholas made the short trip to visit his Grandma & Grandpa and the rest of Mommy's side of the family. We spent Easter Saturday morning at the neighborhood park in an attempt to hunt eggs and visit yet another Easter Bunny. Nicholas was loving the egg hunt with the other 0-3 age group kiddos as he gathered his first three eggs, but then he decided that his basket was plenty full and...oh look, there's the playscape over yonder!! So, it will be another year before he develops a competitive Easter egg hunt spirit!! :o)


The Easter Bunny arrived shortly afterward and Nicholas was at the front of the line!! Unfortunately, this Bunny, who was actually pretty cute and not very creepy, did not capture Nicholas's favor. He immediately wanted out of there!! Daddy took a quick picture as Mommy swooped him up and calmed him down by examining the Easter eggs that he collected during the hunt. And thus the can of worms was opened!! Nicholas now understood that Easter eggs were filled with candy!!! He demanded to eat a marshmallow bunny that he retrieved from his first egg...and the sugar high began!!!

We then made our way to the annual Easter family gathering where Nicholas was entranced by a high school jazz band!! He sure loves listening to music!! Nicholas was very excited to get to see all of Mommy's extended family...especially Uncle Charles & Aunt Julia, since he doesn't get to see them very often at all!!


Nicholas also met an Easter Bunny pinata before he participated in the pinata festivities themselves. He was very confused about hitting the poor bunny pinata with a stick!! "Easter Bunny. Hit him???" Poor Nicholas!! I quickly explained that this bunny was just a toy filled with candy and not an actual Easter Bunny. Nicholas's eyes lit up when he heard the word "candy"!! He was more than willing to help his parents, aunt, and uncle collect an adequate supply of pinata candy for him! (M&M minis were the choice item to chow down on after the pinata event...mmm...sugar!!!)


Then, it was time for another Easter egg hunt!! Nicholas missed the start of the event, but luckily his Grandma, aunt, uncle, Grand-Aunt Jeany, and honorary Aunts, Michelle and Melissa, were feverishly hunting eggs for him so that he could hunt them again later!! Once Nicholas showed up to hunt for the eggs, all he cared to find was one egg. He grabbed the egg, opened it, and exclaimed, "Candy!! Eat it!!!" He sure did enjoy his Reese's peanut butter cup!! (The sugar high continues...)

Eventually, the sugar high did catch up with him, so Nicholas returned home to get a good night's sleep before Easter!!


On Easter Sunday, Nicholas enjoyed his visit to church...happily described in an earlier post!! Then, he returned to his grandparents' house to enjoy his Easter spread of goodies!!!


He had yet another Easter egg hunt in the house later that day, but luckily Grandma had filled the eggs with Gerber Fruit Strips and Sesame Street figurines that Nicholas just loved!! (Yay! No sugar!)


After a fun visit to see LaLa & G.G.PaPa and investigate their house and yard, Nicholas returned home from his Easter getaway to play with his HUGE Easter Bunny from his Grandparents who don't live quite so close!!!

Many more pictures are posted on our website!! And I had many more exciting stories to tell a week ago that have been lost in the baby brain void!! Oh well...you'll just have to trust that Nicholas is super cute and funny!! :o) Happy Easter Season!!!

Ten Chirpy Chicks!

Nicholas always reads a few books before bedtime with Daddy, and occasionally Mommy is lucky enough to read with him, too, when she's not out visiting the horses during the bedtime ritual. Today, Mommy was home and Nicholas chose Ten Chirpy Chicks as his first bedtime book. Mommy and Daddy teach Nicholas various things throughout different books, and one of the main points in this book is that at the end of the book, the chicks return to their chicken coop. Nicholas usually points to the coop and says, "Who's dat?!" Then, we explain that it's the chicken's house, which is called a coop.

Finally, tonight while Nicholas was reading the final page of Ten Chirpy Chicks, he triumphantly announces, "Chicken Poop." Mommy was slightly confused and asked, "What was that?!" Nicholas repeats, "Chicken Poop," and points to the coop. He pronounced it so very clearly as though he was trying so hard to say it exactly right!! Mommy tried to stifle her laughter while trying to reiterate that it is indeed a Chicken Coop! Meanwhile, Daddy was shaking his head at Mommy's silly sense of humor.

:o) I'm still laughing!!!

Later, of course, Nicholas put me in my place when he showed me a dinosaur cut-out from a book saying, "Saracosaurus." Mommy corrected him again, saying that it was actually a Triceratops, while this other dinosaur was a Stegosaurus. Then, upon further investigation in the book, I learned that Nicholas was indeed showing me a "Styracosaurus"!! In my defense, they don't make Triceratops like they used to!! :o) Way ta go, Nicholas!!

Happy Easter!!! :o)

Nicholas has quite a few adventure stories from his Easter and pre-Easter activities, but unfortunately I'm low on time right now!! Hopefully we'll be able to squeeze them into a post later on this week... In the meantime, this is how Nicholas's Easter Sunday at church went...

Nicholas slept through the very beginning of church, but was awakened by a poorly placed speaker located directly above his seat where he was slumbering on Grandpa's lap. He continued to be relatively well-behaved for the first half of the Mass, but eventually the lack of a full nap began to catch up with him...

Nicholas: Cheerios!!! Book!!! Read it!! Mommy!! *irritable moving and fussing from being restrained too long*
Mommy: *gives Nicholas his juice cup*
Nicholas: Juice!! Grandpa!! Grandma!!! *irritable moving and fussing continues as he is handed off from Grandpa to Grandma*
Grandma (whispering): "Nicholas, be quiet."
Nicholas: BE QUIET!!!!!
Grandma: Shhhhh!!!
Nicholas: BE QUIET!!! BEEEE QUIET!!!!
Rest of nearby congregation: *muffled chuckling*
Mommy: Shhhh.... *grabs Nicholas*
Nicholas: SHHH!!! *laughs, throws his head back, and bonks it on the pew in front of us...crying ensues*
Daddy: I'm taking him out!!!

Silly Nicholas spent the rest of the Mass outside playing on the steps and eventually the playground still chanting, "Be quiet!" Only this time, he actually whispered it a little bit according to Daddy!!

Nicholas had a great Easter holiday and hopefully we'll have an update eventually...

Nicholas-isms

"Come here! Sweet Boy!!"

"Hi, Elmo. Hi, Thomas. Hi, Fishie. Hi, Apple. Hi, Banana. Good Morning. Grandpa's truck. Mommy's truck. Cathy's truck. Neighbor's truck. Ride it."

"Monitor. Hear you."

"Hi, Buddy! Daddy says it."

"Red light. Means stop."

"Who that?! What that?! Hear it! Touch it."

"Gig 'em!"

"Play more!!! Please."

"Bug!! Bite you!!"

"Nicholas do it. Self."

"Walk. Be careful. Hurt self."

"Nicholas!! Ride it!!"

"Hang on! Hang on! Grandpa says it."

"Wait. Wait. Wait turn. ...Nicholas turn!! Play it!!!"

"I love you!"

(I'm sure that I missed quite a few, but these are some of the classics that make Mommy and Daddy smile!")

What NOT to yell in the car!

I've mentioned before that Nicholas loves to yell, "GO! GO!" whenever the car is stopped for longer than he'd like! We explained to him that we have to stop at red lights and then we can go when the light turns green. So recently, Nicholas has thankfully given up frightening his Mommy with sudden bursts of "GO! GO!" while she waits patiently at a stoplight. Instead he shouts, "GO!! Red?! Stopping. GREEN!!! GO!!!"

BUT...apparently Daddy has been teaching Nicholas traffic skills while they go on walks to the mailbox that Mommy was not aware of!! She didn't realize that Nicholas knew certain key phrases. So when he screamed, "A CAR COMING!!! WATCH OUT!! HIT YOU!!!" Mommy's poor little heart jumped up in her chest as she looked around to see who was going to hit her!! (No comments on driving records! We weren't in a parking lot, at least!) Silly Nicholas was merely telling Mommy to be careful since a car was coming and we didn't want to get hit!!! :o)
What a helper!! :o)

A happy little guy!!

We've known for awhile that Nicholas loves his music!!! The cute, little, shake-your-bootie dance and head bobbing is still so cute, but now he's finally starting to really sing along to the music!! (Or at least prompt someone else to sing for him!!!) He's actually quite fond of quick little jingles from those crazy noise-making toys. His two favorite jingles are from toys we don't even own (our neighbor's Little People Fire Truck that is no longer being made with the same fun song and the Sesame Street baby crib mirror). Then, there's his new fascination with Nick, Jr.'s Wonder Pets, which is awfully cute!! I finally figured out why he loves Barney so much...it's the singing!! Nicholas will only give the TV his attention if there is singing involved!! And guess what?! 95% of Wonder Pets involves singing!!! After watching the show today, Nicholas ran around singing, "Teamwork!!!"

But, of course, my favorite is listening to him request songs from his various CDs!! "Hello Everybody!!!", "Who's that...knocking, knocking!!!", "La La La La...CHA CHA!!", "OoooOOooo... Walk! Walk!", "No, No, No...Yes, Yes, Yes...Maybe!!!", "Jimmy! Crack Corn!", "GTO! WAA, WAA!", "NINE!!! 7...8...NINE!" ...to name a few!! Woe to the person who cannot sing the requested song...for Nicholas's protests can be heard throughout the land!! But, if you can sing for him...that gorgeous smile is worth a million bucks!!! :o)

Side note...We haven't made much progress on singing our ABCs, but the association with diaper changing is still there...so I suppose I can understand how the song may not be his favorite!!

AMEN!!!!

Nick & I are very proud of all Nicholas's accomplishments, especially his amazing vocabulary skills. Many people compliment him on his ability to pick up so many words! But, that's certainly not the case at church...

"CROSS!!! JESUS!!! SEE HIM!! AMEN!! Ready! Fruit Strip!! Eat it!! YUMMY!!! LIGHTS!!! CANDLES!! Blow it!! BLOW IT!!! Ready!! WHO'S THAT?! SPEAKERS!! LOUD!!! Outside!! BABY!! PLAY!! Ready!!"

These lovely exclamations draw many an eye. And although many people turn and smile, many others turn and glare.

We've been staying away from the nursery since quite a few parents believe that if they or their children are sick, the best place for them to be is in the church nursery. Lovely.

So our plan for the week will be to master whispering!! :o)

Costco

Nicholas and I were loading ourselves into the minivan today after a morning full of fun activities when I asked Nicholas if he was ready for lunch. Nicholas exclaimed, "Daddy!!! Lunch!!! COSTCO!!!" Sadly, I had to tell Nicholas that Daddy would not be joining us for lunch today and we wouldn't be visiting Costco. Nicholas then moved on to exploring the van as he does, oh...all the time!!! He grabbed the car keys and started trying to unlock the glove compartment. Then he starts trying to tell me something, but I have no idea what he's saying!!!! After giving up on Mommy understanding, he enlisted my help in opening the glove compartment. "Tom Tom!!!" Nicholas wanted to play with the Tom Tom!! So, I plugged it in for him and he proceeded to push a bunch of buttons. Eventually, Mommy tired of the car scene and packed Nicholas away in his car seat reminding him that we needed to head home for lunch. After he was all settled in his seat, I looked at the Tom Tom to power it down. On the Tom Tom screen were the directions to get to a certain destination...Costco!!! :-O Amazing!!! Mommy still hasn't figured out how to work the thing!! The boy is persistent!!!

We didn't end up at Costco today, but I suppose I'll have to make arrangements for a lunch date with Daddy there very soon!! :o)

My First Haircut!

What a big day for Nicholas!! We've been planning for weeks to get Nicholas his first haircut, and today we finally found the time to do it!! We called around to several places to get prices, hours, and availability, and we were quite surprised to find that most kid haircuts run from $14-$17!!! How hard is it to do a little snip, snip on a tiny head?! We had no idea what we were in store for.

We settled on a regular haircut place, Premier Cuts, that has given me great service in the past. Plus, it came equipped with a cute little red airplane seat that had a spinning wheel and propeller in its own secluded room!!

We arrived and were immediately whisked away into the airplane room. (No wait on a Saturday, Yay!) Nicholas was very excited about the airplane until the barber (the hairdresser will be referred to as a barber because it just sounds better that way) draped a sheet around him. He froze and stared into the mirror in front of him. The barber must have been very familiar with this scenario as she immediately started trying to show him the airplane wheel and propeller again. Nicholas finally calmed down and began to "Drive! Drive! Drive!" the airplane, so the barber pulled out the clippers to show to Nicholas. Freeze! She demonstrated the tickling sensation of the clippers on his hand and his Mommy's hand. No deal. Countdown to meltdown... 5...4...3...2...1... SCREAM!!!! Nicholas ripped off his sheet, stood up in the airplane, and started screaming, "Mommy! Daddy! Up!! UP!!!"

Again, the barber was on top of things and suggested that we move into a regular seat where Nicholas could sit on Mommy's lap. This is indeed how Nicholas received his first haircut. The barber did a great job with the clippers considering the subject was flailing and screaming in his Mommy's lap. At least 4 other barbers and/or receptionists ran to the back to help distract poor Nicholas. He was offered a crinkly toy, a lolipop, a kaleidoscope, and eventually bubbles!! Poor Daddy was also running around with Cheerios and a useless camera trying to help Nicholas settle down. Once the clippers were put away and the scissors brought out, Nicholas finally started to calm down a little bit. He still wasn't a very happy camper, though. At this point, he wanted his lolipop back, but it was covered in hair...ewwww!! His haircut was finally complete...a regular boy haircut with a #4 blade on the back and sides, with some #2 blade action for the edges, and scissors on the top. His haircut looked unbelievably good considering all the motion the barber had to deal with. Two thumbs up!! She should participate in speed haircutting competitions!!

As we try to de-hair and walk out amidst many staring customers, Nicholas is handed a blue balloon and a very cute certificate with a lock of his hair on it that says...
"This is a real official piece of paper saying that I, Nicholas, was real brave and didn't scream or fuss too much when they took me to this place, covered me up with a sheet thing and cut my hair! As of today, Feb. 28, 2009, I am a BIG KID and I am really cool!"

Nicholas recovered well in the car as we changed his clothes (we never did get that "sheet thing" back on him!) and let him play with his balloon. Nicholas also had a new story to tell!!! "Haircut!! Bzzzz!!! Scary!!" And Mommy & Daddy learned why kid haircuts were priced so high!! :o) We will definitely return to this place if we can...they turned what could have been a super crazy, traumatic experience into one that has a positive twist!!

Nicholas can't wait for his next haircut!!! HA! :o)

Preschool!!

We did it!! We finally signed Nicholas up for preschool!! (It's actually just a 2-morning per week Mother's Day Out program that doesn't start up until September, but it's a big step for us!!!) Nicholas enjoyed visiting the little school and was longingly staring at all the little 2 year-olds on the playground while he screamed "PLAY!! PLAY!!" It's a church preschool, so we also visited the 3 year-olds while they were in the chapel. They were singing the ending of a cute little song when we walked in, so of course, Nicholas loudly questions, "Happened?!", when the singing stops. Then, once I tell him that the kids are finished singing and are learning about ashes now, he starts loudly chanting "Ashes! Ashes!" (I was holding him, thankfully, so he didn't get his grand Fall Down finale to Ring Around the Roses.) Luckily, his loud, echoing antics did not appear to disturb the other kids, but we did get the teachers to turn around. So, all in all, I think Nicholas will have a pretty good time in preschool!! :o) At least I hope so...

On a different note, Nicholas did an amazing thing today!! He was playing with sticks next to a little girl who was also playing with sticks. One of Nicholas's sticks was magically flung into the air and the little girl retrieved it. Her mommy told her to give it back to Nicholas, which she did very nicely. Nicholas took the stick back, smiled, and said, "Thank You!" I was in the middle of speaking a sentence when my jaw hit the ground!!! I still have no idea what I was saying...I couldn't believe that Nicholas said "thank you" without prompting!!!! :o) What a sweet little boy!!! :o)

Rodeo!!

Well, things are finally settling down after Nicholas's extended weekend trip!! His Daddy and I went on a Valentine's date to the rodeo, so his lucky grandparents had the honor of entertaining him while we were gone. Nicholas had a great time visiting everyone and returned home with very interesting stories about his tunnel, Grandma's big car, his adventures with Grandpa at the park, LaLa's yummy cake, GG PaPa's doorbell (ding dong!), his playdate with Claire, and his not-so-accidental breaking of Mommy's snowglobe from Italy... just to name a few. Mommy and Daddy certainly enjoyed some much needed extra sleep and are ready to chase Nicholas around the house again at full speed!!

Nicholas also learned a new game today!! His daddy taught him how to play "Duck, Duck, Goose!!" The game is a little difficult when only he and Mommy are at home, but we talked "Pat, the Bunny" into playing and had quite a fun time chasing each other around the house!!

And, while we're at it...Nicholas has finally perfected saying "Love You"!!! :o) You just can't beat that.

Key Car!!

Have they lowered the legal driving age to 16 months old yet? Nicholas's fascination with cars (or trucks and minivans as the case may be) is only getting more intense!!

When Nicholas first awakens in the morning, he enjoys playing with his aquarium, talking to his pictures on the walls or toys on the shelf, counting to himself, or poking at his GloWorm. Then, once Mommy or Daddy decides to slither out of bed to retrieve the silly little guy, he starts shouting "Key! Car!" This is his way of demanding the car keys and a trip outside to play in the car. It begins in the morning...and it doesn't end until he shuts his eyes for the night!! We spent well over an hour in either vehicle today.

Nicholas is very good at putting the correct key into the ignition and turning the key (without actually turning over the engine) to activate all the exciting car gadgets. The most important gadget is, of course, the radio. We definitely need to get more pictures of him sitting in the drivers seat holding the steering wheel while swaying and bobbing to the radio!

They grow up so fast!! :oP

Happened?!?

The word boom is here!! Just as predicted in all the wise little baby books, the amazing word boom has arrived!!! Nicholas is just a little sponge!! So watch your mouth!!! (You know who you are!) The best part about this word boom period is all the stories Nicholas is starting to tell!!

He has three favorite stories: What Happened to the Candle (A thrilling tale about a match that makes a flame and lights a candle that is soon blown out, sending the flame away) , Barney's Hurt (A drama about an innocent day on the swings that goes awry when Barney is kicked off the swing, goes Boom, and shakes loose his batteries so that he is obviously hurt and needs to be fixed), and The Loud Vacuum Clean-Up (A high-speed adventure about a helpful grocery-unloader with slippery palms who drops a jar of Gerber banana-strawberries, sending glass everywhere, and a giant, loud vacuum that saves the day). These stories are told many times throughout the day using the most important keywords as Nicholas recounts his exciting adventures.

The cutest thing about all these tales is that they start with Nicholas looking you straight in the eyes, shrugging with up-turned palms, and questioning "Happened?!"

6...7...8...9..10!!!!

He did it again!! We've been casually counting with Nicholas for awhile now, but we never really expected to see any results until he was a little bit older. His attention span isn't really the longest... But, a few weeks ago, he surprised both his Daddy and Mommy after he spilled all his little Gerber Puffs on the ground. Daddy sighed and started trying to return the puffs to their happy little green cup home with Nicholas's help. So of course, Daddy started counting. But Nicholas finished!!! Mommy was in the other room when she heard "3...4..." and she was very impressed. But when she heard "7...8...9..", she ran into the living room with her jaw dragging the floor!! Nicholas actually knows the order of the first 10 numbers!!! This feat has proven very difficult to repeat, though. Nicholas loves saying "TWO!!!", so he gets distracted very easily, very early in the counting. Plus, he throws in the occassional "Barney!" in the middle of counting.

But...he did it again!! (At his own pace, in his own time, of course!) Nicholas was playing with a pile of his diapers while Mommy was trying to discourage the mess she knew was about to occur. Then, he recklessly threw the top diaper to the ground and announced "1!!" He threw a couple more down and counted "2...3..." Now Mommy was very impressed since he'd successfully made it past 2!!! He had a little help with 4 and 5, then finished off with "6...7...8...9..10!!!" Mommy was so proud!!! She didn't even care that the pile of diapers on the floor was still growing!! I guess all those mathematics genes from Great Grandpa, Grandma, and Daddy are already kicking in!! :o)

I also found out that a little girl from Nicholas's Little Gym class is also counting to 10! (They're only a few days apart in age.) So, I suppose it's not an unusual feat at this age, but we're still very, very proud!! :o)

The First Blog!

Welcome to Nicholas's World!!! Nicholas spends his days making his Mommy and Daddy so happy and proud, but they tend to forget all the great Tales from the Crib! This blog will hopefully help us recount those crazy, cute, and ever-so-brilliant antics!!

Where to begin?! Nicholas is almost 17 months old now and is continuing to blossom into a smart little handsome boy!! He had his first sick baby doctor visit this past Friday!! He's had a few minor colds in his short little lifetime, but this was the first that required a visit to the pediatrician!! The poor boy was suffering through a fever, runny nose, and eventually a nasty cough. It turns out that he not only has croup, but an ear infection as well!! That cough just sounds so horrible and it came on so quickly!! The doctor prescribed him some delicious Amoxicillin for the ear infection (you must remember the yummy refrigerated pink stuff from your childhood...it smells so good!) and a one time dose of corticosteroids for the croup (the Walgreens pharmacist - super nice lady...I will definitely go back - suggested mixing the crushed pill in some chocolate syrup to disguise the taste...Nicholas was definitely a fan!!) The drugs seem to have kicked in and Nicholas is much happier and much more comfortable. We'll keep you posted on this milestone illness. :oP

In other news, Barney is wonderful. I grew up with such a dislike of the creepy, purple T-Rex that ran around hugging various children!! But, I just did not understand the preschool appeal!! Purple dinosaurs are cool!!! Especially when they sing and dance!! And who really cares if the child actors have not quite perfected their trade - they're kids! Plus, the show was made for kids who don't care if the acting is spot-on! Nicholas loves Barney. The huge smile that appears on his face when the Barney theme begins playing on PBS can just melt your heart!!! To all the nay-sayers who discourage TV-watching before three-years-old, I ask...how do you get dressed in the morning?! Everything in moderation. Nicholas also has a talking plush Barney doll thanks to his Auntie "Em". Nicholas involves Barney in quite a bit of his daily routine...it's just too cute!! Barney eats with him at his diner, drives around with him in his sports coupe, and sits with him as we read books. Barney also comforts Nicholas while he watches Barney on TV in his Pack & Play so that Mommy can get dressed/packed in a super rush to get to the pediatrician's office before it closes. We love Barney. :o)

So, that ends our first post. The rest will most likely be shorter. And don't expect frequent updates...you should know us better than that!! :o)